Sunday, June 17, 2012

Too Hip for You

(Johnny being made to confess where the diamonds are)
So, last Thursday headed off to St Mike's Hospital to take a "stab" (pun intended) at the option my surgeon had suggested of "delaying" the hip surgery for all the messed up damage that has been hobbling me for the last 2 years.
Que'est que c'est "option"? (the French is a reflection of the global inclusiveness of my Blog - I am, after all, very continental with my writing).
Dr. Dan (not to be confused with "Ltnt Dan" from Forrest Gump, who I might add, with his injuries and all, I could sooo take in a race - sorry...) had indicated after the MRI, CT scan, series of xrays, etc, that given the (likely negative) impact surgery will have on my ability to keep cranking out the miles on my tired old body, that we should try an injection of this "stuff" that may help to at least off set some of the pain.
He noted that the drug, called "Durolane", is a synovial fluid that in essence acts like a "super-lubricant"...hey, get your mind out the gutter!) that could ease some of the grinding but in no way would work magic, not would it do anything to repair the labrum tear.
With really no downside to trying this, I figured "what the hell".
Then I had to buy the drug - not OHIP covered - and after forking out close to $500 smackers, for the second time that day thought, "what the hell?".
My use of the word "hell" is, it seems, intrinsically linked to my hip.
So - willing to try anything, short of modelling myself after Gary Sinese that is, I was booked in for the injection.

To make a long story short, here is how I remember the procedure/surgery - St. Mikes, hospital gown (man, I have a white ass), under the xray machine, surgeon pops in, anesthetic into hip joint closer to groin/adductor (and the "boys" - "hey, careful Doc, I may need them!"), gadolinium contrast dye injected into hip socket, 4" needle stuck into hip, watching this as best I could on the xray monitor, surgeon muttering "god damn..."
WTF!!!???
Seems the needle tip was hitting the head of my hip bone and could not release the drug, which is apparently really viscous and needs some space to be injected.
So, what to do, what to do? Well, I will tell what the (f*ck) to do: pull out needle, pull out dye syringe thingie and start all over.
45 min I will never get back in my life - and done.
Ya, I realllllyyyy enjoyed that.

Anyway - hip full of junk, I was done and thought I could leave.
Nurse says "sit" for 1-2 hours to make sure I am ok, no negative reaction to anesthetic, blah blah blah; however, I had places to go, people to see, so I split (kinda caught shit for that when I got home though!).
Nice bruise on inner groin and pretty sore for a while - but it seems to have helped a bit, as I just got back from a sweet 18km run on the Spit.
Still sore but pushing on.
Here's hoping this sh*t works its mojo at least for a few months so I can get a summer of racing in before I absolutely, positively HAVE to go under the knife.

See ya on the road
Johnny Boy

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